Refrigerators are home appliances for storing foods at a low temperature. For this, refrigerators include storage chambers closed by doors. In the refrigeration cycle of a refrigerator, a refrigerant is changed to a low-temperature and low-pressure state and exchanges heat with air to produce cooling air. The cooling air keeps the storage chamber of the refrigerator at a low temperature so that foods stored in the storage chamber can be kept fresh.
Consumption of large and multifunctional refrigerators have increased with the change of people's eating patterns and preference, and refrigerators having various structures and convenience devices have been introduced in the market.
For example, an ice maker and a dispenser may be included in a refrigerator as convenience devices. The ice maker may be disposed in the refrigerator and the dispenser may be disposed in a door of the refrigerator to provide ice and water to a user.
In general, water is directly supplied to an ice making tray of the ice maker, or after filling water in a water supply container having a capacity for one-time ice making, the water supply container is disposed in the refrigerator to supply water to the ice making tray.
However, in this case, supply of water is necessary after making ice once. If a large water supply container is used, water filled in the large water supply container may freeze before all the water is supplied to the ice making tray, and thus ice may not be continuously made.
Therefore, in a refrigerator proposed to solve the above-mentioned limitations, a water supply line is directly connected to a water pipe of a house to continuously operate an ice maker. In addition, the water supply line is connected to a dispenser of the refrigerator.
In another kind of refrigerator proposed to solve the above-mentioned limitations, water is supplied to an ice maker and a dispenser from a water supply container disposed in the refrigerator through a water supply passage by using a pump.